Ciavattone honored for amazing Courage
FOXBOROUGH — Forty-four years ago, Frank Ciavattone Jr.was told he had three months to live.
Thirty-one world championships, 242 world records, and five more bouts with cancer later, the legendary lifter from Norwood accepted the Medal of Courage from the Massachusetts chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame at Gillette Stadium’s Putnam Club.
“I feel so honored that people really did appreciate everything that I did without wanting [recognition],” Ciavattone said. “A lot of people when I grew up didn’t think I was going to be anything.”
Myron Allukian Jr., who became a major figure in dentistry after captaining the Tufts wrestling team, received the Outstanding American award at the induction ceremony and honors banquet.
Lifetime Service to Wrestling recognition went to former Whitman-Hanson coach Ron Brown, former King Philip coach and referee Steve Cherella, former North Attleborough coach Wayne Griffin, Walpole coach and referee Paul Murphy, former Brockton coach and referee Chris Pacelli, and posthumously Joe Streadwick, who ran the wrestling program at the Quincy YMCA for 55 years.
Spectators roared when Ciavattone was introduced, again when he proudly declared that he’s a survivor in his pre-recorded speech, and again when the 68-year-old Walpole resident took to the podium with tears in his eyes.
“It made my heart very happy,” said Colleen Ciavattone, Frank’s wife of 12 years, who is also battling cancer. “I’m very proud of him. He deserves it. He’s one of a kind.”
Bullied as a kid and unable to compete in many sports due to blindness in one eye, Ciavattone found a home on the Norwood High wrestling team, where he is remembered for his strength and leadership, always leaving the home gym he built open for his teammates.
Ciavattone was the first American to lift Scotland’s Dinnie Stones, and continues to set lifting world records, but it is his kindness that makes him so beloved. By promoting anti-bullying and healthy living initiatives — he takes pride that his career has been substance-free — and organizing strength and wellness programs for inmates, Ciavattone has touched many lives.
“I’ve never seen as many thank you letters as I saw to him from different members of the community,” said chapter president Sean Harrington, . “Such a champion of life. Dealt with so much and keeps on coming back. Inspired thousands of people through his efforts.”
Ciavattone has sponsored six kids in the Make-a-Wish foundation. Their wishes were granted in meeting him, but he took it a step further.
“That turned me into a mission to make money for them to send them down to Disney World,” he said. “I had fundraisers for them, I did feats of strength and raised the money myself. When I did the lifts, I would have them up there with me. They would hug me and give me a kiss. I’d lift more weight than normal because they inspired me.”
All those kids has since passed. Ciavattone keeps the Make-a-Wish lapel pins parents would send him around a medallion he earned for a deadlifting world record.
In his 50th year battling cancer — he was first diagnosed in 1973 — Ciavattone still recalls his high school wrestling training.
“It’s taught me hard work, taught me respect, taught me courage, taught me discipline,” he said. “That’s what got me through all my cancer, all that was taught to me in those four years I wrestled.”
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Allukian also credits wrestling for his success improving access to health care. He is known as the “social conscience of dentistry.”
“You’re tireless,” he said. “I’m in better shape than anyone in public health or medicine. When I’m at meetings, I go on and on. I’m willing to challenge people. I don’t get intimidated by people.”
A swimmer at Boston Latin, wrestler at Tufts, and even a champion meat cleaver juggler, Allukian did not have a clear career until he was offered a spot at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. Later serving in Vietnam, he offered aid to local orphanages, which grew into a greater drive to help those in need.
“It’s so important as we go through our lives to recognize people that are living in ways that the rest of us should be looking to emulate,” Harrington said. “There’s not a lot of people who give back to their community, and Myron does that to the highest level.”
Allukian was Boston’s dental director for 34 years and president of the American Public Health Association, receiving more than 50 awards. He has pushed hard to ensure communities have fluoridated water to strengthen their teeth.
“You have to be relentless,” he said. “When I was trying to get fluoridation in Boston, 70 bills in eight years, I didn’t give up. Because I didn’t give up, two million people got fluoridation.”